Norman Teague

With one question printed on each card and using only a pen to answer, here are his responses.

We’ve partnered with Winsor & Newton to bring you interviews with top designers from around the globe. Each designer was given a 0.8 WN Fineliner to sketch answers to a variety of questions.

In this addition of Design Dialogues, we spoke with Norman Teague of @normanteaguedesignstudios, A Chicago-based designer and educator whose work fuses craft with community. Informed by cultural heritage and civic purpose, he explores “design as activism”, where objects become tools for storytelling, empowerment, and change. Using only a pen, here are his responses.

Norman Teague is a Chicago-based designer and educator whose practice spans furniture design, public art, and community-driven projects. Rooted in cultural empowerment and civic engagement, his work transforms everyday materials into objects that speak to Black identity, place, and history. Teague’s approach is grounded in collaboration, using design as a tool for storytelling and social change.

His career began with formative collaborations, including working with Theaster Gates at dOCUMENTA (13) in Germany, followed by exhibitions at Milan’s Salone del Mobile, the Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Chicago Cultural Center. In 2016, he co-founded BlkHaUS Studios with Fo Wilson. In 2019, he went on to form his own Norman Teague Design Studios.

Today, Teague balances teaching at the University of Illinois Chicago with his studio practice, which includes projects for the Barack Obama Presidential Library and works held in the collections of MoMA, LACMA, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His design philosophy centers on accessibility, dialogue, and cultural resonance shaping, a more inclusive future through design.